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Monday, January 31, 2011

Today was my first attempt to go back to work (even though I don't have to technically go in until Thursday). It was a partial success. I made it out of the house okay, got breakfast and was able to get a couple hours of work done. I also forgot my phone at home, and forgot some essential parts for pumping at work. So, I headed home, forgetting my lunch and some non-essential pumping parts at work.

All in all it was a good practice run.

I also realized that although Penn State touts itself as being supremely breastfeeding/pumping friendly, they still have a long way to go. There are very few lactation rooms, and access is not easy to get (I am still waiting on a response to the email I sent to set up an orientation time so I can fill out paperwork just to use the room, getting a password and ability to request times, which may not be granted).

I am tempted to use the nearly-always empty conference room upstairs. Alternatively, I could do like I do now and just use a nursing cover when we have guests and either pump in the restroom downstairs or in our lunch room.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Today was our first full day with a babysitter at home (I'm still here) and it went really well! She is great with Claire and the dogs, and happy to help around the house with light chores. I was able to get some writing done and get caught up on nearly all my emails - woot!

She'll be back to help on Thursday and two or three days next week, then I go back to work, and the worrying mother will really come out.

Monday, January 17, 2011

I've done a little work from home already - and plan to try and get a little bit of writing done over the next two weeks before I "officially" go back to work.

I'm also trying to get everything ready at home for Claire. I've started pumping so we have enough breastmilk for her while I'm at work, and we've attempted to feed her using a variety of bottles. So far we haven't had a lot of success with the bottles. We have several types, all with the lowest flow nipples, but Claire is such an efficient sucker that she inhales the milk, literally. She chokes on the milk, it dribbles out of her mouth, and she eats so quickly that she doesn't realize she's full. Today, even after having been burped every 0.5-1 ounce, she was very burpy, hiccupy, fussy and cranky. An hour after the bottle, she started showing hunger signs again (smacking her lips, rooting, etc) and after putting her off as long as I could with all my entertainment skills, I gave in and nursed her. She spit up half of it, and was fussy for another two hours on and off. Finally, now, she's fallen into a restless sleep.

Monday, January 10, 2011

The last time I posted (Dec 21) was the day I went into labor, and little Claire joined us at 2:47am on Wednesday December 22nd.

She's a wonderful baby! Still, that doesn't mean that the days and nights haven't blurred together.

Today is my first day at home alone as Scott heads back to work. It's been an hour, and so far nothing has fallen apart. :) As nervous as I am to be here alone, I'm also sad for Scott to go. I know I'm not ready to go back to work (i.e. to be away from Claire for any amount of time), so I imagine it must be very hard for him too.

Claire and I are planning to meet Scott for lunch, which means I'm going to start getting ready in a few minutes (I figure it will take a couple hours to bathe Claire, get us both dressed, nurse Claire, change her diaper, get her situated in the car seat and pick up lunch).

In other news, I found, through google, that there's a picture of me from the Genome Research poster competition at the Cold Spring Harbor conference last hear - awesome! Claire was just a several weeks old developing embryo at this point, but we did know about her (meaning I didn't partake in the wine/cheese hour, or happy hours).

Although she's just shy of three weeks old, it is so weird to think of a time when she wasn't part of our lives. Currently she is snuggled up to my belly, snoozing while I type.

I'll try to update more frequently, but be sure that if there is ever a choice between updating or enjoying time with Claire, I'm going to go enjoy her. I'm off to do that now. :)

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